How Accurate Is “Dunkirk”?

Robert Huddleston, a regular book
critic, is a graduate of the National Defense University in
Washington.

Miracle: a surprising and
welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws
and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.

Dunkirk, a highly-acclaimed
motion picture, is the story of the successful evacuation of Allied
solders from the beaches of Dunkirk, France having been routed by
German forces in late May of 1940. The motion picture was
immediately followed by a re-issuing The
Miracle of Dunkirk (1982),
which made a fast rise to the New
York Times nonfiction
best seller list. Winston Churchill, Great Britain's Prime Minister
also described the successful evacuation as a “miracle of
deliverance ” in a speech to the Parliament on June 4, 1940, the
end of the operation called Operation
Dynamo.

Churchill, of course, did not
really hold to the successful operation being a “miracle.” But no
doubt some did, leaving it for the English historian Stephen Bungay
in The Most Dangerous
Enemyto
set the record straight:

'The miracle of Dunkirk' is still
a standard phase in the mythology of 1940, derived from Churchill
calling the evacuation a 'miracle of deliverance’ in his speech of
4 June. The only miraculous thing about Dunkirk, perhaps better
called 'good luck,' was that the sea remained calm. The rest was down
to excellent organization by the navy, skill on the part of the RAF,
generally good discipline in the BEF [British
Expeditionary Force], and
a lot of human effort. Though
paying tribute to those involved in the operation he went on to
explain its meaning: We
must be careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a
victory. Wars are not one by evacuations. But there was a victory
inside this deliverance, which should be noted. It was achieved by
the air force.

Operation Dynamo, which
began on 26 May 1940, and ended nine days later, served as a test for
Britain’s Royal Air Force Fighter Command against the vastly
experienced Luftwaffe.

“Hitler had many reasons, good
and bad for holding back his Panzers, but divine mercy was not one of
them,”noted
Dr, Bungay. But
Hitler did have good reason to proceed on a path that ultimately
favored the British.

As the defeated British forces
retreated to the beaches of Dunkirk, the German Wehrmacht was pushing
Allied forces, mostly French, some British, aided by RAF fighter
squadrons, towards Paris, a prime target for the Germans. Rather than
splitting their forces the Germans continue the advance towards Paris
while leaving Dunkirk to the Luftwaffe, as ordered by Hitler. Reich
Marshal Herman Goering, head of the Luftwaffe, had convinced Hitler
that the Luftwaffe, and the Luftwaffe alone, could destroy the
British forces at Dunkirk. Goering, a German fighter pilot in the
First World War, was convinced that German aircraft and German
fighter pilots were far superior to their British counterparts having
been tested in the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War. He had a rude
awakening in the resulting air battles. While the actual count of
aircraft destroyed by each side is controversial, the best assessment
is that it was about equal, just under 100. The objectives of each
side, however, tell the story: the Luftwaffe failed to destroy the
enemy forces on the beaches, while the RAF was successful in
averting that effort. Hitler/Goering were monumental chumps.

The British losses in the air
battle were Spitfires and Hurricane fighters, while most of the
German losses the Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber, the Dornier Du 17 medium
bomber, and the Me-110 twin-engined fighter were no match for RAF
fighters. This resulting matchup between the Luftwaffe attacking
aircraft and the RAF
defensive fighters
served as a precursor to the coming Battle of Britain.

As the Dunkirk evacuation was
underway, Allied forces, supported by several RAF fighter squadrons,
continued to oppose the German forces advancing on Paris. The British
Prime Minister, Winston Churchill flew to Paris—escorted by RAF
fighters—to convince the French leaders to continue the struggle.
The French asked for increased British support in the form of several
RAF fighter squadrons. Impossible, decided Churchill, knowing the
importance of fighters to oppose an expected invasion across the
English Channel. On 22 June 1940 the French resistance collapsed, the
French government fled south and France signed an armistice with
Germany. The remaining British Forces were evacuated from French
southern ports with the RAF squadrons returning to England. Hitler's
Third Reich now controlled the continent with England standing alone.
The Battle of Britain was but weeks away.

One viewer of Dunkirk,
the motion picture, wondered about the presence of Americans on the
beach or in the air. It is known that Americans had volunteered at
the outbreak of the war passing themselves off as Canadian, thus it
is quite likely some were at Dunkirk serving with British units. What
is known is that thirty-two Americans had been recruited for the
French air force by Charles Sweeny, an American soldier of fortune.
His goal was to create a squadron of American fighter pilots
resembling the Lafayette
Espadrille of World
War I fame. None, however, had been accepted before being forced to
evade advancing German forces. Of the thirty-two Americans, four
were killed, eleven became German prisoners, five eventually made
their way to England, and the fate of the rest is unknown.

Of the five pilots who reached
England three were accepted in the RAF and, along with one other
American, served in the Battle of Britain The three were Eugene
“Red” Tobin, a Hollywood tour guide eager to pilot Spitfires,
Vernon Charles “Shorty” Keough, who stood tall at 4 feet, 10.5
inches and required two cushions to reach an aircraft’s rudder
pedals, and Andy Mamedoff, the son of a wealthy White Russian
immigrant whose passion for women was equal to that of flying. The
three initially came to Europe intending to volunteer their service
to the Finnish air force, Finland having been invaded by Soviet
forces. Before reaching Finland, however, the conflict ended, France
surrendered, and Britain became the employer of last resort.

The fourth American in the
Battle of Britain was William “Billy” Fiske, a stockbroker and
Olympic bobsled champion who joined English society when he married
the widow of the Earl of Warwick in 1948.

The four American pilots perished
in the Battle of Britain.

Some viewers may have found
Dunkirk
disconcerting as the film jumps around to reflect what was happening
on the beaches, in the air, and on the water. My take is that this
approach best reflected reality. I was impressed as the film captured
the calm demeanor of the British Royal Army and Navy officers in
charge: it conveyed the message “if we remain calm and carry on we
will see this through.” The talented British actor Kenneth Branagh
fills the role of British Vice-Admiral Bertram Ramsey in charge of
the operation.

Also evident in the film was the
discipline of the troops waiting to board ships as directed by RSM
Beachmasters (Regimental Sergeant Majors). Always under attack from
German aircraft and wearing steel helmets anticipating bullets
raining down from aerial combat. Actually, British fighters
intercepted most enemy aircraft some distance from the beach, causing
the troops to believe they were receiving little support from the
RAF. It took several decades to correct this misconception.

The film correctly covers the
devastating attacks on Royal Navy ships, the navy suffering more
causalities than the Royal Army. Not overlooked are the British
civilians who contributed and often manned the flotilla of small
craft that joined British warships in the evacuation. Mark Rylance
fills the role of the dedicated civilian skipper of his pleasure
boat. And well-presented is the sterling performance of the RAF
fighters. The simulated aerial combat is especially impressive by
focusing on a Spitfire pilot, played by actor Tom Hardy, so dedicated
that he continued to attack German aircraft to the point of running
out of fuel and being forced to land on the beach, destroying his
beloved Spitfire.

At the end of the film, as the
last of the troops are departing, the Naval Commander in charge says
he would remain to evacuate Allied troops who had been holding
Germans at bay. His action raised the total evacuated to 364,628, of
which two-thirds were British.

Being a combat pilot in the
European conflict I was drawn to Dunkirk
knowing it was the initial match-up between the German Luftwaffe,
principally the Messerchmitt Bf 109 fighter, and the British
fighters, the Spitfire and Hurricane. Being the first true test of
the relative merits of the pilots and aircraft of the two opponents,
it was a learning experience for both sides. The Battle of Britain
soon followed, ending Hitler's planned invasion of the island nation.
The course of the European conflict was now tilted in the favor of
the Allies—if the United States became involved.

Dunkirk,
a motion picture, is an excellent opening chapter to the Second World
War.